This invention relates generally to tennis training aids and more particularly to devices for aiding a player in improving his serve. In recent years the sport of tennis has become increasingly popular with the result that many new people desire to learn the sport and improve their skills. With the aid of backboards, cushioned backboards, automatic ball machines and similar training aids, it is now possible to learn many of the necessary skills more rapidly. The serving skill is not significantly assisted by these devices, however, and there are few, if any, other aids which significantly help the student to learn this skill.
A good tennis serve requires proper body position with respect to the court, proper grip, proper swing, and most important, the proper toss of the ball. To make a serve effective, the player must consistently toss the ball to a proper height and in a manner which places it a proper distance from the body and causes it to fall in a relatively straight vertical line toward the court, and must time his swing to strike the ball at the proper position in the fall. The player's proper position with respect to the court and his grip and swing can be relatively quickly learned with good instruction. A proper toss and proper timing of the strike are much more difficult to learn, however, and require a great deal of practice.
The greatest difficulty experienced by tennis students in achieving a proper toss is the lack of reference points to guide the direction, height and line of fall of a tossed ball. Some tennis coaches instruct students to make their toss by raising the arm in an extended position from their side up to about head height and then release the ball in order to guage proper spacing from the body. They direct students to determine proper toss height by holding their racquet in an extended position above their head, and to make their toss 8 to 12 inches above that position. They also instruct the player to attempt to make his toss in such a way that the fall of the ball will be substantially vertical, and often designate a point on the ground a certain distance forward of the student's toe where a well tossed ball, if not struck with the racquet, will hit. A generally suggested striking height is in the top third of the racquet, which students can measure by holding the extended racquet above their head and estimating. Trying to achieve all these criteria without reference points, however, is a frustrating activity for the tennis student, which requires long hours of practice and generally results in the beginner's serve being the weakest aspect of his game.
A need, therefore, exists for a tennis training aid which will assist the tennis student in more readily achieving a proper serve toss, and properly coupling this toss with his serve swing.
It is, therefore, a major object of this invention to provide a tennis training aid which orients for the student proper toss height, distance from the body, and ball fall, and proper strike height.
It is also an important object of this invention to provide a tennis training aid of the type described which is not only useful for practicing the serve toss but permits an actual serve to be carried out without interference.
It is another object of my invention to provide a tennis training aid of the type described which provides correlated overhead and ground targets which both direct the tennis player's toss and indicate when he has achieved the proper direction and fall.
It is a further object of my invention to provide a tennis training aid of the type described which provides the tennis student with a reference for proper toss height and indicates when his toss is over or under desired height.
It is still another object of my invention to provide a tennis training aid of the type described which provides an easy strike height reference for the tennis player.
It is still a further object of my invention to provide a tennis training aid of the type described which is easy to use, readily portable, relatively inexpensive and sufficiently durable to withstand the rigors of training use.